New Congress with same old problems

The 2012 election was supposed to embolden Democrats: President Barack Obama campaigned on raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, liberals won key Senate seats and tea party favorites lost seats in the House.

But as the 113th Congress prepares to be sworn in at noon on Thursday, there is little optimism among weary Democrats that fights on the horizon — immigration, the debt limit and gun control — will go any better than the ones that preceded it in the dysfunctional and paralyzed 112th.

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POLITICO LIVE: 113th Congress comes to Washington

“We’ve got to look to the president to provide leadership, but we also have to work very aggressively with him,” said Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). “So there’s some elements of reality that are going to temper what we can get done.”

Make no mistake: Democrats feel better about the political dynamic — they’re buoyed by bigger numbers in both chambers, Obama will seek to define his legacy for the history books, and a dramatic fiscal cliff showdown left Republicans in a weakened position.

And they’ve seen their political enemies diminished — rejected Republican lawmakers such as Florida Rep. Allen West and Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh who came to be known as symbols of the tea party-fueled Republican conference.

But the sense of political momentum from their electoral victories won’t necessarily be translating to substantive accomplishments in the policy realm.

“The membership shift is so relatively marginal, I wouldn’t look for any great shift in policy because of membership changes,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

Still, other Democrats say the dynamics of the new Congress will clearly favor them.

“Anytime you have more seats, you have more empowerment, so the Republicans have fewer seats, we have more seats, I think it empowers our agenda,” said New York Rep. Steve Israel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Leading up to the fiscal cliff is the last dying gasps of extremism. It’s going to its final convulsions.”

But even Israel — an eternal optimist on Democratic electoral prospects — is pessimistic that the era of partisan bickering and incessant can kicking is totally over. Despite a strengthened majority in the Senate and gains in the House, the government — and the parties — remain deeply divided. Huge issues like the debt ceiling and automatic spending cuts have been pushed a mere two months down the road as a result of the fiscal cliff deal that exhausted the nation.

“The problem is, there are going to be multiple bargaining positions,” Israel said. “Congress has become like a Road Runner episode where you go from cliff to cliff.”

In his second term, Obama and his administration will also have to deal with a contingent of liberals on Capitol Hill who weren’t left pleased with the White House’s negotiations on the fiscal cliff.

Though the victory is widely perceived as a political winner for Democrats, the progressive ranks vented their frustration and criticized the administration for giving in to Republican demands. Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, one of the few Democrats who voted against the fiscal cliff deal, said Democrats “conceded way too much” in the final agreement.

“They’re making the assumption that [House Republicans] won’t threaten the full faith and credit of the United States in order to decimate Social Security and Medicare; I think they will,” DeFazio said of the next fiscal battle, which is to raise the debt ceiling. “We’ll see who’s right.”

Readers' Comments (8)

Seung Min Kim and Kate Nocera write, "Democrats say the dynamics of the new Congress will clearly favor them"

This is senseless wishful thinking. Neither Democrats nor Republicans will be favored by subtle shifts in Congress. These harsh realities of life across America are giving rise to disillusionment and discontent. American families have suffered greatly for years and suffer worse with each passing year. Our American families are falling into poverty, our American children are going hungry, families across America are beyond a breaking point. Anger will boil over across our nation, and no political party will be spared derision and disrespect.

Our politicians are direly ignorant fools who arrogantly think themselves to be of a Marie Antoinette ruling class, and Michelle Obama smirks, "Let them eat arugula!"